College Students’ Achievement Goal Orientation and Motivational Regulations in Physical Activity Classes: A Test of Gender Invariance

The current study examined the measurement invariance across 361 male and female college students’ 2 × 2 achievement goal orientation and motivational regulations. Participants completed questionnaires assessing their achievement goals and motivational regulations. Multigroup CFA analyses showed that male and female students’ scores were fully invariant at the configural, metric, and scalar levels. Multigroup SEM analyses revealed that mastery-approach goals positively predicted intrinsic regulation and identified regulation. It also revealed that performance-approach goal was a stronger predictor of external regulation among female students than among male students. Collectively, these results provide evidence that researchers can make valid inferences about differences in achievement goal and self-regulation scores across male and female students. This study also supports the view that mastery-approach goals are motivationally beneficial, especially among female students, in college physical activity class settings.